No use complaining against offenders on Yamuna Expressway

LUCKNOW: The government has fixed maximum speed limit for vehicles moving on the Yamuna Expressway (YE). To ensure the directive is followed, a help line has been created where people driving on the expressway can complain against those who over speed or overtake them from wrong side. But, what if the police personnel and the staff at toll plaza help to botch the rules? If the staff, that should be bringing offenders to book, give the offenders a pass, who could ensure the speed limit is followed?

Accidents on the YE have also been a cause of concern. Within a fortnight of the expressway being thrown open to people by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in August, at least seven persons were killed due to over speeding on the road. Most of the accidents took place between Greater Noida and Agra. Though the maximum speed limits, 100 kmph for cars and 60kmph for heavy vehicles, were notified in July, it is the lack of enforcement which has endangered lives.

The experience a TOI reader shared on Sunday shows police and staff at the toll plaza are not serious to act against the defaulters. Dr Aditi Mukherjee who was driving on the expressway on Sunday morning from Agra to Delhi, was overtaken by a speeding SUV. She called up the help line number displayed on the public information board at YE. "We were driving at less than 100 kmph and there was an SUV which overtook us and sped off. I called up the help line number," she said.

Though the staff at the help line who received Mukherjee's call was helpful and heard her complaint patiently, police and officers at toll plaza did not punish the defaulter. "I wasted 45 minutes. Police took hold of the vehicle and the driver but decided to let him go," she said. Mukherjee said she was told to meet "CRO", who was the officer at the toll plaza. "I met the CRO. He lied that I had called and asked to let the driver go. I had never called up that officer," she said.

The police, on the other hand, said since the man's father was critically ill, and he was on his way to be with him, he was allowed to go. "I never understood why police and the officer present were so sympathetic towards the offender," she added. Though cameras have been installed at YE to capture the over speeding vehicles, the police said it records vehicles running in the first and second lanes only. The speeding vehicles on third lane are not caught by the camera. "When I asked them for the complaint book to write my account, they gave me a lose piece of paper and when I refused to take it, they told me to go back to Agra to register the complaint."